A trial looking at gefitinib for people with advanced non small cell lung cancer (1839IL/0709)

Cancer type:

Lung cancer

Non small cell lung cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 3

This trial compared best supportive care Open a glossary item and a drug called gefitinib (Iressa) with best supportive care alone for people with advanced non small cell lung cancer. It recruited people whose cancer had stopped responding to treatment.

Advanced non small cell lung cancer can be difficult to treat. When this trial was done, earlier research showed that gefitinib could be a useful treatment for this group of patients. Gefitinib is a type of biological therapy called a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

The aim of this trial was to see how well gefitinib works for people with advanced non small cell lung cancer. And to find out more about the side effects.

Summary of results

The trial team found that gefitinib and best supportive care was no better than best supportive care alone for people with advanced non small cell lung cancer.

1,688 people took part in this trial

Two thirds had best supportive care and gefitinib
One third had best supportive care and a dummy drug (placebo )

The researchers analysed the results in 2005. They looked at both groups to see how long people lived. They found no difference between the people who had gefitinib and the people who had the dummy drug.

The main side effects of gefitinib were mild and included skin rashes and diarrhoea.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.